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Women in danger
Mr. C.T. Calderon extols his personal viewpoint of “nearly 10,000 more babies born in Texas after six-week abortion ban” (Letters, Aug. 7). However, let’s consider the very real consequences to those directly affected — girls, women and their families.
1) In August, the Dallas Morning News reported: Deaths among new mothers in Texas spiked at least 40% over the last two decades across all racial and ethnic groups. In other words, women die in pregnancy and childbirth, and shouldn’t this fact (not personal viewpoint) be the upmost consideration?
The Association of American Medical Colleges reported: The states that enacted abortion bans saw a 10.5% drop in obstetrics/gynecology resident applicants in 2023 from the previous year. In other words, will doctors come to Texas for extensive and excellent training/care in a state that does not allow women their own bodily autonomy?
In my lifetime for 50 years, a woman had the right to her own reproductive life choices, but now it is women and their families who directly bear the personal, emotional, financial and debilitating health effects from a pregnancy that might be of rape/incest or not of their choice. Is it the extolment of this man along with current Republican lawmakers who applaud the six-week abortion ban that only “babies” count in Texas — and not girls, women and their families?
Diane Teter
Edinburg
Razor wire supported
Right Rev. C. Andrew Doyle (Aug. 17) declares that he “… must say that the actions now at the border of Texas and Mexico regarding the razor wire and buoys are inhumane, un-Christian, and acts of immorality,” and they “must be denounced as … a sin.”
Since when is it sinful to defend sovereign borders with fences or walls? Regardless of their location, these must be respected. Trespasser beware!
Should a church that surrounds itself with protective fences be held liable when a lawbreaker gets injured in the process of climbing it? I say no.
There are many references of walls, fences and borders in the Bible. The Bible welcomed fences in Numbers: “… and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land,” and welcomed walls in Proverbs: “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” And in Deuteronomy: “All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars …,” and in Psalms: “Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!” and “Do good to Zion … build up the walls of Jerusalem.” And in Micah: “It will be a day for building your walls.”
The Bible also references why walls (fences) are good. In Psalms: “Day and night they go around it on its walls, and iniquity and trouble are within it,” and in Nehemiah: “Then I said to them, ‘You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision/’”
There are biblical references about tearing down walls, but only in the context of overtaking or destroying a city. I doubt that’s the future the Rev. Doyle imagines for America.
Joel Ramirez
Edinburg
LETTERS — We welcome your letters and commentary. Submissions must include the writer’s full name, address and daytime telephone number for verification. Letters of 200 words or fewer will be given preference. Submissions may be edited for length, grammar and clarity. Letters may be mailed to P.O Box 3267, McAllen, Texas78502-3267, or emailed to [email protected].
